Insights into the Essays

To give you an insight into the wide range of topics addressed by previous Packett Prize winners, and into the original research they carried out, we have provided brief summaries of some of the winning essays.

Whilst these summaries can only give an insight into the essays themselves, and are not in any way a substitute for reading the essays themselves, we do hope that they inspire you to carry out your own research, and to share your findings with others by writing an essay.

For a summary of the essay that won in 2007 – ‘Freebrough Hill: Form and Function’ by Marjorie Brookes – click here.

For a summary of the essay that won in 2009 – ‘Cleveland Asylum Chapel’ by Val Harrison – click here.

For a summary of the essay that won in 2011 – ‘Childhood in an Ironstone Mining Community’ by Pat Wetherell – click here.

For a summary of the essay that won in 2013 – ‘Matthew Wadeson of Stockton-on-Tees 1749-1833: Lead and Shipping Agent’ by Beryl Turner – click here.

For a summary of the essay that won in 2015 – ‘Cathay, Cabbages and Criminals: A Biography of William Wilson’ by Ian Lawrence – click here.